CaribX is a UK head quartered private energy company formed in 2009 to study and develop the hydrocarbon potential of the Caribbean and Central America, and to screen and mature exploration opportunities.
CaribX's objective is to build and develop a large exploration portfolio in this under-explored area and to:
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Build on its unique understanding of the hydrocarbon potential of the Caribbean and Central American through detailed petroleum geological studies, original thinking and interpretation;
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Select the most prospective areas and attract financial and industry partners;
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Safely and responsibly develop this potential in partnership with countries, investors and operating partners.
CaribX is now recognised as the leading expert on the exploration potential of the region. The company has partnered with major international oil companies and holds a non-operated interest in the Main Cape project, offshore Honduras.
Operations
Honduras Offshore
Highly prospective area added to the portfolio
CaribX holds 55% of a 17,030km2 area (4.2million acres) offshore Honduras encompassing the shallow water Mosquitia basin, and the deeper water Patuca and Niobe basins.
CaribX has studied this region since 2011 and leads the exploration which resulted in: The re-discovery of the Main Cape prospect where oil flowed to the surface, to be appraised; Three drill ready deeper water prospects and twenty follow-up leads in four play types supported by oil shows in basin margin wells, oil in seabed cores and seismically defined hydrocarbon occurrences in turn support by multibeam data. All in a rift margin setting with considerable running room.
For the details, please contact cjmd@caribx.com
Leadership Team
Chris Matchette-Downes
CEO Petroleum Geologist & founder
Chris has identified and built exploration opportunities for over 30 years for companies working in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa to include exploration for hydrogen, helium, and hydrocarbons. Previously Chris worked as a wellsite geochemist, a geochemical advisor to BGS and as a research scientist with BP then BG Group. Chris continues to work and apply petroleum geochemical expertise to secure optimal acreage and is well-respected for work done in both East Africa and in the greater Caribbean regions where he has undertaken several geoscientific reviews since 2003 and has built successful hydrocarbon, helium, and hydrogen exploration companies. He is a respected (frontier) Petroleum Systems expert and often speaks at international conferences and seminars. MSc., BSc., CGeol
Dr Chris Atkinson
Director E&P & co-founder
Chris Atkinson started his career at Shell but spent most of his formative years at Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) in the USA, Southeast Asia, and Europe. He was the founder of Serica Energy plc and has been involved with the successful start-up and financing of a further four companies (Mitra Energy, Malaysia; MPX Limited, UK; ZinMac - now Strategic Oil and Gas, Canada; Greenfields Petroleum, USA). Chris brings a wealth of exploration and small company experience and has worked extensively in frontier basins throughout the world. He has a PhD., BSc. in geology from the University of Swansea.
Dr Octavio Pastrana
Director in charge of the business in
Latin America
Dr Pastrana brings a huge amount of industry experience at the most senior levels in oil and gas, energy, engineering, and construction internationally and across Latin America. He has served on the board of PEMEX (the national oil company of Mexico), as a senior advisor to the Mexican state regarding oil and gas reforms, and at BP where he was Chairman and CEO of Chaco in Bolivia and Country Head and General Director of business units in Alaska, Venezuela, and Mexico.
Prior to BP Dr Pastrana was in senior management and CEO roles at a number of Latin American engineering and construction companies engaged in major power generation and civil infrastructure projects. BSc., PhD in engineering from Strathclyde University.
Leaderships’ past experience by company
CaribX leaders have made significant contributions to the O&G industry in Latin America, the Caribbean and Alaska
Senior Advisors
Joel Corcoran
Petrophysicst
Ivan Sandrea
Strategy and Commercial
Ivan is founder and CEO of Westlawn Americas Offshore, and founder and former CEO of Sierra Oil and Gas, the company that lead and participated in the award-winning Zama discovery in Mexico. Sierra was acquired by Wintershall DEA in 2019. Prior to this, Ivan held a number or entrepreneurial, leadership and corporate roles including Co-head of the global oil and gas emerging markets practice for EY in London, President of Energy Intelligence (the oldest oil and gas information service in the world), Vice President of Corporate and Upstream Strategy and Business Development at Statoil (Equinor), head of oil supply at OPEC, investment banker at Merrill Lynch and exploration geologist at BP. During his career Ivan also held various roles at different starts ups in Latin America (Petra Energia in Brazil, Pan Andean Resources in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia).
Alain Lehner
Reservoir Engineer
Alain is founder and CEO of Lehnergie and an active senior advisor for petroleum engineering and development for CaribX. A graduate from INSA in Lyon and ENSATA in Paris, Alain held senior technical positions and managing director of assets in Total during his long career of more than 31 years, in France, Norway, Indonesia, Argentina and Venezuela. Alain was appointed Vice President of Total in charge of reserves development, head of reservoir engineering for the group and global technical assurance lead, and responsible for the career development of reservoir engineers around the world.
Alain is President of Avenia, the association of Geosciences created by the French government.
Mark Shann
Geologist
Mark is active senior advisor for geosciences and is a leading exploration geologist with 38 years’ experience across the world with BP and since 2014, Sierra Oil and Gas and Westlawn Americas Offshore. At Sierra, he lead the technical evaluation team that successfully entered six exploration blocks and identified the Zama discovery, the largest shallow-water oil discovery worldwide in the last 20 years.
Prior to joining Sierra as a founding partner and director, Mark's career at BP spanned 13 countries including heading the Reliance/BP India exploration programme, and joint industry projects with PEMEX in Mexico, PDVSA in Venezuela, GUPCO in Egypt among others. Mark holds an Honours Degree in Geology from King's College and is a fellow of the Geological Society.
Joel is a geoscientist who over the last 20 years has held key roles in successful exploration teams maturing and drilling prospects. He has held senior technical and exploration management roles with various independent oil and gas companies including Tullow Oil where he held a position on the Global Exploration Leadership Team which managed the groups global exploration portfolio to industry leading success. Since 2018 he has directed his own consultancy Goel EP ltd which has given him exposure to varied global energy projects where he has advised on prospect maturation and well formation evaluation to include for CaribX in both the Patuca and Mosquitia basins.
He holds an MSc with distinction in Petroleum Geosciences from Imperial College London and a first-class BSc in Geology from University College London.
Dr Phil Roach
Geophysicist
Phil has a PhD in Geophysics and contributed to CaribX’s early exploration ventures in the region through both seismic and potential fields. Phil has more than 45 years’ experience within the petroleum industry. He graduated with a PhD from Birmingham University in 1978 and then began his career with Shell International before leaving to become Head of Geophysics at Energy Resource Consultants (ERC). He has been an independent geophysical consultant since 2004. His expertise ranges worldwide and covers both seismic and potential fields and he has been responsible for the acquisition, processing, and interpretation of at least 13 3D seismic surveys as well as both airborne and ground potential fields surveys.
He has been a geophysical consultant to CaribX since 2011 and therefore has a wealth of geological and geophysical experience in CaribX’s core areas. Over this time, projects have included Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. Phil carried out CaribX’s seismic interpretation of the Main Cape block in Honduras, identifying the world-class Akna prospect in the Patuca Basin along with other significant prospects and leads.
Honduran representation
Steven Guillen
Environmental and social advisor
Steven Guillen, founder, and CEO of the consulting firm ACQUA, based in Roatan, Honduras, has been the environmental advisor to the project since 2012, providing consulting services for the environmental and social assessment for all activities of the exploration, and leading all permitting activities. ACQUA has provided services to all major development projects in coastal and offshore Honduras, to most of the Honduran fishing fleets, the major tourist cruise operators from Florida, hotel, and real estate developers, and is a specialist in coral reef protection and restoration.
All members of the Leadership Team are investors in CaribX.
CaribX completes the analysis of oil shows in the Gracias a Dios well – Patuca basin
February 2024
A petrophysical revaluation of wireline log data for the pre-Tertiary section on the flanks of the Patuca basin revealed the presence of migrant hydrocarbons. Cutting samples were obtain for the ESSO drilled well were dated by Petrostrat and the migrant hydrocarbons were characterised by APT in Norway. The age of the basin flanking sediments were confirmed as Upper Cretaceous to Albian in age; and biomarker and isotope data confirmed the presence of migrant oil consistent with data from Fugro’s seabed coring program undertaken for BG group.
CaribX completes the review of the Main Cape Eocene Reservoir – Mosquitia basin
August 2023
CaribX commissioned Cambridge Carbonates to evaluate MC1 well data and cutting samples for the Eocene limestone reservoir section. The data has allowed CaribX to steer its 3D planning and MC2 well drilling program such that the better poro-perm units, such as the reef margins can be targeted both in time and space. The analysis also revealed hydrocarbons below the produced interval to TD. These samples will be analysed for oil character and origin in due course.
Dr Pastrana brings a huge amount of industry experience at the most senior levels in oil and gas, energy, engineering and construction internationally and across Latin America. He has served on the board of PEMEX (the national oil company of Mexico), as a senior advisor to the Mexican state regarding oil and gas reforms, and at BP where he was Chairman and CEO of Chaco in Bolivia and Country Head and General Director of business units in Alaska, Venezuela and Mexico. Prior to BP Dr Pastrana was in senior management and CEO roles at a number of Latin American engineering and construction companies engaged in major power generation and civil infrastructure projects.
CaribX presented a paper by director Chris Matchette-Downes on the Petroleum Systems of the Northern Caribbean at the first Houston Geological Society on Latin America
November 2019
Dr Octavio Pastrana joins CaribX
March, 2020
CaribX presents at the First HGS/EAGE Conference on Latin America: themed “South American Petroleum Plays for Future Decades of the Third Millennium
Senior industry figures join CaribX board
January 2020
CaribX announced today that Ivan Sandrea, recently CEO and founder of the first independent Mexican E&P company Sierra Oil and Gas (acquired by Wintershall DEA in 2019), has joined the board of directors. Ivan brings a wealth of industry and regional experience to the company as it starts a new chapter in its history. In addition, Mark Shann, former Technical Director of Sierra will join Caribx’s advisory panel.
CaribX exploration activities continued despite Covid Restrictions
February 2021 to January 2023
Despite the fact that Honduran Government enter a hiatus for nearly two years due to Covid, CaribX was able to leverage legacy data recently provided by the Energy Secretariat, which included seismic, drilling cuttings, oil samples and Main Cape1 well report, which allowed to revisit in depth the Muskitia basin and the Main Cape reservoir. Petrophysical and geochemical analysis of Main Cape 1 and Gracias a Dios 1 wells executed by CaribX provided valuable insight.
News and Resources
CaribX gives keynote presentation at the Geology Society, London
May 2019
CaribX's Chris Matchette-Downes presented several well recieved papers regarding the Petroleum Geology of the Northern Caribbean including a keynote presentation: "The Source rock provinces of the Caribbean by recourse to biomarker and stable isotope data assemblages from produced oils, shows and seeps".
https://caribx.egnyte.com/dl/iQJ2vNU78I
Selected Presentations and Research
March 2024
Oils geochemistry of shows in the Pre-Tertiary, Gracias a Dios-1
Available by permission/CA
January 2024
Pre-Tertiary, biostratigraphy, Gracias a Dios-1
Available by permission/CA
2023
Reservoir carbonate study – Main Cape prospect
Available by permission/CA
2022
Miocene Reservoir carbonate study – Akna prospect
Available by permission/CA
October 2021
Mark Shann – Chortis its journey
June 2021
Mark Shann - Chortis revisited
June 2021
Mark Shann - AAPG Explorer
November 19, 2019
The Petroleum Geology of Offshore Honduras
Houston Geological Society and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers: Exploration conference on Latin America
May 15, 2019
Petroleum Geology of Mexico and the Northern Caribbean
Keynote at the Geological Society, London conference on the Petroleum Geology of Mexico and the Northern Caribbean
May 15, 2019
The Oil and Source rocks of the Patuca and Mosquita Basins, Honduras
Keynote at the Geological Society, London conference on the Petroleum Geology of Mexico and the Northern Caribbean
July 15, 2018
Biomarker and isotope data from oil shows on Saba Bank and tar strandings on St Lucia evidence continental crust in the Antilles
AAPG Special Bulletin at the Hedberg Conference on Middle America, Sigüenza. Biomarker and isotope data from oil shows on Saba Bank and tar strandings on St Lucia evidence continental crust in the Antilles, in progress
Available on request
October 21, 2016
Oils and source rocks of the Caribbean
Finding Petroleum, Geological Society, London
Policies
Governance PDF
CaribX fully supports the transparency initiatives as described by the Sustainable Minerals Institute in their report EITI Mission Critical Report; here attached:
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